A Bachelorette is Nothing Without Her Pad (Bachelorette’s Pad, that is. Not the other Pad)

View from my bedroom window.

It is my first week in my new apartment. My room is empty except for a 700-ringgit mattress (instant noodles for the rest of the month, hello) and piles of boxes of my stuff against the wall. But I LOVE IT. My window has the most spectacular view of the city. It overlooks a large lake, and behind the lake stands the Twin Towers and the rest of the city lights. Late at night when you make yourself a cup of coffee, sit down on the floor and look out the window (my window is large and almost to the floor) with your bedroom lights turned off the view is magnificent. Then you enjoy the lights reflected on the surface of the lake and the tall city towers and you think, ‘It can’t get any better than this!’

My balcony overlooks the large infinity pool and in the morning one could do yoga bathed in morning sunlight while enjoying the pool serenity (Okay, okay fine. And maybe check out those guys swimming around down there).

A few days ago the genius me bought a closet at Carrefour (“oh of course I can put them up myself! It looks really easy!”) And then the three of us, my two housemates and I, spent about an hour putting the closet together. And needless to say I was the most un-useful one, having the role as ‘The Girl Who Held the Nails in The Plastic Bag and Passed Them Around When Needed’.

I finally have my VERY OWN HOME!! I’m so proud. Haha! Okay time to raid the fridge and see what can be eaten without cooking.

The City

Times Square New York. Definitely a must-see place before you die.

The city means different things to different people. For some it’s a place where they grew up, and they knew of no other place than the tall buildings and the shopping malls. For some it’s a place where they chase dreams (this may be divided into two, ambitions or rich men in good suits). For some it’s just a holiday destination. For the rest of us, well, we’re not really sure what we’re doing here just yet.

There are two sides of the city. One that I like and one that I totally despise. The part that I like is that at night the lights are gorgeous and it always seems alive. You get up, dress up and show up. I love the fact that you’ll always have an excuse to dress up and look nice. You meet friends and good people, and eat good food and have a good laugh and a good time. And you meet all these people – some you like, some you really, really like, some you don’t, but at the end of the day you feel like your life has witnesses. Like if you were gone tomorrow these people would say, ‘hey, I knew that girl.’ You become a part of this incredible chain of humans and you feel like you’re living the high life of a twenty-two year old. The right way any other twenty-two year old should be living.

Then there’s the harsh side of it. You wake up, go to work, go back home, and before you know it your day is over. You get stuck in a public transport for hours where a certain tall guy would stand over you and dude, please get a deodorant stick or something! All those time, working and travelling, that’s the time in your life you will never, ever get back. And then you get this feeling like you’re only a part of a herd – like a herd of sheep, almost. There is a routine. You won’t often find days where you wake up and you know something exciting or different is going to happen. You all do the same things, but you’ll never speak or know things about each other. In a city, you know you are never alone, but you’ll always feel alone.

Nevertheless I do miss it a lot. I think it has something to do with the fact that when I go back home from work, I’ll walk out of the office in Twin Towers and I see tourists taking pictures of it. And then I think to myself, ‘Better yet, I am actually working here!’ and then I go out for drinks with friends and have a good time, and when I go back I’ll sit next to the guy who just came back from construction work, and it makes me feel grateful because some people have it worse than I do. And then right before I go to sleep, that small space of moment, I feel totally alone and it’s quiet and dark and this really is, believe it or not, one of the things I look forward to the whole day.

All Aboard! 2010 is Here!

I'm beginning to question the true magical powers of a coconut drink. They're known to be very healing, and I would know this because last year my cat got sick so we fed it some coconut drink and wa-la! He got all better (that, or he's just sick of same ol' plain water and cat cookies). So you would think that on New Year's weekend, I had a weekend holiday by the Prt Dickson Beach and had no less (I swear this is true) than 6 coconut drinks I would be at the prime of my health. But nooo. Come Monday I had a fever, flu, cough and a sore throat.

Sickness aside. After I got back from this TOTALLY FANTASTIC New Year getaway with my four best girlfriends (Paris Hilton can say whatever the hell she wants, but you girls are the best BFFs ever!), I realised that sometimes things just couldn't happen in a better timing. This year I'll be starting off as an official working gal, just graduated, new office, new boss, high heels everyday all day (all hail the guy who created high heels. He deserves a Nobel Prize), new friends, new love interest. So celebrating New Year by getting away with your oldest friends who always knew you best is the perfect beginning to 2010. Keeps my feet on the ground and my priorities in check. Highlights on the weekend trip:
- The MASSAGE. I wanted to ask the masseuse to please adopt me.
- Charades, in which Zaza demonstrated the movie 'Species' with acts that would make her Mom hit her with a broomstick.
- Odah's ability to not like karaoke, banana boat, and guitar-jamming but managed to have loads of fun anyway.
- My near-concussion incident in which I hit my head against Zaza's ass. I know you had bruises, honey, but I can't even remember my Grampa's name no more.
- DJ's answer to everything = whatever/I'm totally fine with it/boleh aje
- Hana wearing a kaftan on the way back from PD to home (honestly, you can't get much more 'aunty' that that. Lol!)

Now I know this is already a week old, but what is the New Year without new resolutions?
1. I will discover at least one new city/country.
2. I will watch something, live (concert, local band gigs, football game, anything!)
3. I will not revolve my life around boys, and instead revolve boys around MY life (not that I've ever slammed the breaks of my life around a guy, but in this new working environment, a girl's gotta remind herself not to do that, over and over again)
4. Learn to cook something new (yes, I know the whole lemon roasted chicken incident went off into flames. So maybe try something simpler and more achievable?)
5. Learn a new skill (have not yet decided between sewing, playing a musical instrument or learning French)
6. Join a charity (and not just give money. More like actually lending physical energy into it)
7. Get at least one 'tick' in the To-Do List of My Life.

Happy New Year! Have a great one!